Biography

Two London citizens, brothers Ray and Dave Davies, formed this band in 1963. At first, they called the command The Ravens, but soon changed the title for The Kinks. Since that time, the lineup of the band saw many replaces, but Davies brothers were the creative core of the band for decades. When The Kinks began, young Rod Steward tried for the lead vocalist position in The Kinks. At first, the artists played blues, following the fashionable at the time US genre of rhythm-and-blues. However, they changed their sound to the harder side, recording protopunk single You Really Got Me. The song became a smash hit on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. In 1965, The Kinks actively toured along the USA. Critics started to call the band one of the Big Four of British Invasion, putting it in one line with The Who, The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. Classical rock albums The Kink Kontroversy and Kinda Kinks became world best sellers. The phenomenon success of the band lead to the fact that it was prohibited to perform in the USA in the same 1965.

Having no opportunity to visit the USA, the artists got inspired by the English folk and national stage performances. It was obvious on their new disc Face To Face with the ironical hit Sunny Afternoon. The sound of The Kinks differed so much of the music of their colleagues, fascinated with the American psychedelia, that the band got the nickname of "The Most British Of All". In 1967, the song Waterloo Sunset was released, which was acknowledged as one of the most beautiful tracks about London. Soon after the conceptual release Arthur (Or The Decline And Fall Of The British Empire), The Kinks were allowed to perform in the USA again - the musicians willingly started a lengthy tour across the country. The sound of The Kinks became harder - it can be well traced on their hit single Lola of 1970. In the beginning of 70's, Ray Davis was captured with the composition of rock operas. In order to perform such operas, the band drastically widened the lineup. However, the first try by Ray, called Preservation and available on the albums Preservation: Act 1 and Preservation: Act 2, was a complete failure.

The public perceived coldly several other analogous projects by The Kinks. By the beginning of 80's, the band came back to playing songs. The musicians got inspired with the new wave genre on their classical rock full-lengths State Of Confusion (with the hit song Come Dancing) and Word Of Mouth. The artists managed to get back their fame partly, but from the middle of 80's, the relations between Davies brothers began to worsen. In 1983, Ray Davies and Chrissie Hynde from The Pretenders, became the parents of their daughter - since that, Ray started to pay more attention to his family than to The Kinks. In 1993, the last major release Phobia with the hit single Hatred (A Duet) saw light. In 1996, relations between Ray and Dave got so bad that they stopped to communicate. This resulted in The Kinks collapse. Both brothers concentrated in their solo projects and private life. In 2002, the collection of best songs The Kinks titled The Ultimate Collection was issued. It contains the hits by the artists for the period from their debut in 1964 to the disc Word Of Mouth. Hard rock composition You Really Got Me became the major hit - for the second time after it fascinated the listeners with its guitar solo in 60's.